My name is John McLoughlin and I'm 73 years old.
Roughly ten years ago I was helping a friend on an allotment he had just acquired. It was in a very poor state and had been left untouched and neglected for quite a few years. I dug down about two foot to remove some fruit bushes that had died and uncovered this old hand trowel. It had clearly been left in the original hole when the bushes where planted.
Tools were made to last in bygone days, forged of proper steel, not the rubbish they sell nowadays. It will never bend, and the original wooden handle is as good as new, a testament to good old craftsmanship.
I use it regularly and often reflect on the gardener who lost it, although he would be long gone. He would have searched high and low and not realised it had fell in the hole he had dug for his fruit bushes.
It brings a smile to my face that after all these years, it’s back doing the job it was made for.
Written in April 2025.
